CL may heed request to delay start

by Jim Allen (Mar 20, 2011)

Pro baseball's Opening Day may yet be delayed.

Although the Central League's board of directors decided on Thursday
to go ahead with the league's Opening Day on March 25 as scheduled, a
request on Friday from the Ministry of Education and Science may alter
that position.

The ministry asked Nippon Professional Baseball to refrain from
playing night games in areas affected by power shortages caused by the
March 11 Tohoku earthquake.

"The ministry asked us to refrain from night games, not to stop
playing," commissioner Ryozo Kato said Saturday. "We have said we will
follow instructions and orders imposed on us and not play until it is
safe for players and fans.

"We are going to play baseball. Both the CL and PL are studying how
to adjust to this request. I haven't heard back from them yet."

Two of the CL's openers are scheduled to be played in Tokyo: at Jingu Stadium and Tokyo Dome.

The Pacific League, which pushed back the start of its season until
April 12, will be affected as well by the ministry's request. PL owners
are scheduled to meet on Monday to discuss how to proceed.

Meanwhile, the Orix Buffaloes have said it would be premature for
people to think the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles will easily be able to
relocate their scheduled home games to Kobe.

Orix said Friday that Hotto Motto Field Kobe currently has a full
slate of college, high school and amateur games that cannot easily be
rescheduled.

The Hanshin Tigers and the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks have both offered
their home parks as potential Rakuten home games until Sendai is ready
for pro ball once more.

===

No gags from Morimoto

YOKOSUKA, Kanagawa--Hichori Morimoto loves the spotlight and has been eager to get up in outlandish costumes to entertain fans.

But don't expect any vintage clowning from the Yokohama BayStars new outfielder just yet.

"I don't think it's the time for that," said Morimoto, who left the
Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters over the winter to sign with Japan's
weakest club.

"For the time being, I'm going to concentrate on cheering people up through my play on the field."

Morimoto and a number of Yokohama's first-team regulars were in
Yokosuka to get some Eastern League playing time after their scheduled
preseason exhibition at Yokohama Stadium had been called off.

"The scale of this disaster is huge, beyond comprehension," he said.
"It dwarfs what one person can do to help. But as ballplayers, we want
to get out and start playing as soon as we can and give people courage.